- Friends is a show set in the mid-90s with a bunch of twenty-somethings navigating their lives and relationships and hanging out in their favorite coffee shop, set in New York City.
- The show does not reflect any definable generational sensibility, and the characters have seemingly no interest in the culture of the moment.
- The clothing the characters wear is garish and make no particular fashion statement, and their coffee shop is an ugly and haphazard place.
- The show is apolitical and exists outside of culture, making it a cultural object that is resistant to style, fashion and generational position.
- Seinfeld is another NBC Thursday night show that takes advantage of New York and captures more of the city’s character, but it is too spiky and mannered to be as lacking in personality as Friends.
- The success of Friends is due to its refusal to reflect on a specific cultural or generational experience, making a space for the widest possible audience.
- The mystery of Friends’ success lies in its broad and repetitive humor and its endlessly recycled plotlines, making it comforting for viewers, like its classic, awful theme song.
- My So-Called Life is a delicate portrayal of quintessentially late-Gen Xer characters, operating in a world that’s unmistakably of its era, reflecting the fashions and music and cultural id of its own time.
Published February 16, 2023
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